UAB in the News

• 
  Larsen C Antarctica Ice Breakup Creates a Trillion Ton Iceberg

  Professor James (Jim) McClintock, a marine biologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has been studying the climate change in Antarctica for more than 25 years and has written a book about his experiences, Lost Antarctica. He is skilled at communicating the science in an interesting and informative way. Last week Professor McClintock explained what the collapse means.
• 
  UAB Callahan Eye Hospital to open new full-service clinic in Pell City

  The new facility at 7067 Veterans Parkway will provide specialized care — the same vision care offered on the Birmingham campus for 50 years — to residents in St. Clair and surrounding counties, according to UAB.
• 
  New data show three triple-combination regimens are “highly effective” for up to 90 percent of cystic fibrosis patients

  The data show approximately 90 percent of those with CF could potentially be positively impacted by these new treatments.
• 
  Physician travels to Africa to treat women who have suffered childbirth injuries

  Holly E. Richter, M.D., J. Marion Sims Endowed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will travel with Andy Norman, M.D., a retired physician from Vanderbilt University, and Joseph M. Malek, M.D., a urogynecology fellow at UAB, to the Worldwide Fistula Fund 's Danja Fistula Center in Niger this summer to perform surgeries on women in sub-Saharan Africa who have suffered childbirth injuries.
• 
  MD Magazine And Contagion Expand Strategic Alliance Partnership With UAB Medicine

  “We are excited to announce this new partnership with UAB Medicine, which has been on the forefront of training the next generation of physicians and physician-scientists at the nationally recognized UAB School of Medicine.”
• 
  Hackers could use brainwaves to steal passwords

  Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham suggest that brainwave-sensing headsets, also known as EEG or electroencephalograph headsets, need better security after a study reveals hackers could guess a user’s passwords by monitoring their brainwaves.
• 
  Hormonal changes during early development limit lifespan in mice

  This study, published this week in eLife, provides new evidence that hormonal levels during the first few weeks following birth can have a long-term impact on lifespan, mortality risks and health status in old age.
• 
  UAB Develops Affinity Chromatography Method for 100-Fold Better Protein Purification

  Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have developed a one-step affinity chromatography method for protein purification that they claim is up to 100 times better than existing techniques at achieving high-yield, high-purity, high-activity purification (HHH) of even the most challenging of proteins.
• 
  Minor lifestyle improvements may decrease high BP risk in black adults

  “The Life’s Simple 7, an approach used by the American Heart Association to monitor [CV] health, can also be used to monitor high [BP] risk in African Americans, a major risk factor for [CVD],” John N. Booth III, MS, a PhD student in the department of epidemiology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, said in a press release. “We found that even small improvements in [CV] health can reduce risk for developing high [BP].”
• 
  New director named at UAB's brain institute

  Ronald M. Lazar is the new director of the Brain Institute and the Evelyn F. McKnight Endowed Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging in the Department of Neurology.
• 
  AHA: Workers inadequately trained in CPR, first aid, AED use

  “The data suggest these untrained employees may be relying on untrained peers in the event of an emergency, leaving employees with a false sense of security that someone in the workplace will be qualified and able to respond, when that is clearly not the case,” Michael Kurz, MD, co-chair of the AHA’s Systems of Care Subcommittee and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine in the department of emergency medicine.
• 
  Nausea Common with Methotrexate in JIA

  Co-medication with anti-emetics may reduce the incidence of MTX-induced nausea and behavioral therapies may reduce the occurrence of anticipatory nausea, Sonja Falvey, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues reported in a review published in Pediatric Rheumatology.
• 
  Opioid epidemic takes toll on those with chronic pain

  It is not a good time to be a pain patient, says Mark Bailey, D.O., Ph.D., a pain specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. It's not a good time to be a pain doctor, or a pharmacist either, he says. The nation is dealing with an opioid epidemic, and the field of pain management has gotten very complicated.
• 
  Study finds hackers could use brainwaves to steal passwords

  Nitesh Saxena, Ph.D., associate professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Department of Computer and Information Sciences, and Ph.D. student Ajaya Neupane and former master's student Md Lutfor Rahman, found that a person who paused a video game and logged into a bank account while wearing an EEG headset was at risk for having their passwords or other sensitive data stolen by a malicious software program.
• 
  Hackers could use brainwaves to steal passwords

  Researchers suggest that brainwave-sensing headsets, also known as EEG or electroencephalograph headsets, need better security after a study reveals hackers could guess a user’s passwords by monitoring their brainwaves.
• 
  Critical Care Transport lauded for consistent reaccreditation

  The team has carried out more than 49,200 medical transports, covering 30 million miles, 46 states and 38 countries.
• 
  The 20 most affordable U.S. medical schools

  The UAB School of Medicine has low tuition and graduates leave with low medical school debt – approximately $56,100 less than the average debt found in our study.
• 
  Micron-sized hydrogel cubes show highly efficient delivery of a potent anti-cancer drug

  Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center have developed micro-cubes that can sponge up a hydrophobic anti-cancer drug and deliver it to cancer cells. Tissue culture tests show these tiny, porous cubes, loaded with the hydrophobic drug, are more potent against liver cancer cells and less harmful to normal liver cells, compared to the drug alone.
• 
  Here is what you need to know about ticks with the number of tick-borne illnesses in Alabama on the rise

  Tick bites and the diseases the pest causes have been in the headlines recently, and for good reason. The number of tick-borne diseases reported each year is increasing, including in Alabama.
• 
  Antiviral inhibits epidemic SARS, MERS and animal coronaviruses

  Coronaviruses are a genetically diverse family of viruses that infect birds and mammals, with most coronavirus strains limited to infecting only certain hosts. Human coronaviruses, for example, cause up to 30 percent of common colds.
• 
  The community spirit shines through

  The University of Alabama at Birmingham is rolling out the welcome mat to students in recovery, to the greater recovery community and to allies.
• 
  Yoga As Good As Physical Therapy For Treating Lower Back Pain: Study

  In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Stefan Kertesz from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Dr. Douglas Chang from the University of California, San Diego wrote that treating lower back pain is a complicated task and that the findings of the study showed only modest improvements.
• 
  Brain tumors: Still devastating, but treatment has come a long way

  A neurosurgeon discusses advances in brain tumor diagnosis and treatment that are bringing renewed hope to the battle against brain cancer.
• 
  UAB launches academy to boost health care administration diversity

  UAB launched this program, which was dedicated to increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of students in graduate level health care management and health care leadership.
• 
  Most American Workers Unprepared for Workplace Cardiac Emergencies

  "The data suggests these untrained employees may be relying on their untrained peers in the event of an emergency, leaving employees with a false sense of security that someone in the workplace will be qualified and able to respond, when that is clearly not the case," said Dr. Michael Kurz, M.D., co-chair of AHA's Systems of Care Subcommittee and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
• 
  Donor Microbes Can Persist Long-Term After Fecal Transplant

  Researchers say their small study, published online June 7 in Biofilms and Microbiomes, offers the first proof that therapeutic donor microbes remain for months or years in patients who've undergone fecal microbiota transplantation.
• 
  UAB students build solar house with tornado safe room for international competition

  A team of about 60 UAB undergraduate and graduate students are building the house on campus for the U.S. Department of Energy's 2017 Solar Decathlon, an international collegiate competition hosted this year in Denver.
• 
  UAB launches academy to increase diversity in health care leadership

  The two-week program, dedicated to increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of students in graduate level health care management education and leadership, was created by the UAB School of Health Professions’ Department of Health Services Administration with guidance from the UAB Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
• 
  UAB unveils first look at completely net-positive solar house headed for competition

  A team of University of Alabama at Birmingham students are building a house powered completely by solar energy in a competition against 11 other colleges from around the world. The UAB team unveiled the beginning stages of the house in a ceremony at the construction site recently.
• 
  Poo transplants are gross — but they’re really, really great at fixing gut problems

  Depositing someone else’s poo inside your own body sounds… revolting. But it’s emerging as one of the most powerful ways to treat gut problems, reaffirmed by a new study from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
• 
  LOCAL

  The fourth annual LOCAL is an outdoor, family-friendly event featuring Alabama farmers, artists and vendors, performances by local musicians and food trucks.
• 
  Measles outbreak highlights risk of forgetting medical miracles

  At a time when measles seems long forgotten, false information about vaccines directed at vulnerable populations is breeding fear, confusion and even disease. Minnesota is experiencing the largest measles outbreak in 30 years, where dozens of children who were not vaccinated have been infected.
• 
  Patients with epilepsy had high risk for post-shoulder arthroplasty complications

  “Patients with epilepsy have a higher risk for postoperative complications and are more likely to have prolonged hospital stays and may be less likely able to go home than your typical shoulder replacement patient,” Brent A. Ponce, MD, associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Orthopedics Today.
• 
  Fecal transplant: UAB researchers show donor microbes persist up to two years

  University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have made the first direct demonstration that fecal donor microbes remained in recipients for months or years after a transplant to treat the diarrhea and colitis caused by recurrent Clostridium difficile infections — a serious and stubborn cause of diarrhea after an antibiotic treatment for some other illness.
• 
  Birmingham’s Top 10 event guide for June 14 – June 20

  Concerts, networking, art galleries, the great outdoors – Birmingham has it all!
• 
  UAB students’ research work takes flight with drone technology

  Elizabeth Bevan, a doctoral student in the Department of Biology, is using drones in her thesis project that studies the effects of climate change on the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 
  How Bad is it to Drink Tons of Seltzer?

  Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyzed 379 drinks and found that pH levels of two seltzers clocked in at 4.96 and 5.25. But that's far from the risky 2 to 4 range—where most sodas and fruit juices fall—which puts you at risk for tooth erosion.
• 
  UAB lands $2.5M grant for glaucoma research

  Dr. Christopher A. Girkin and Dr. Massimo Fazio have acquired the grant from the National Eye Institute to explore how visual field loss developed with glaucoma is associated with the specific biomechanics of the eye.
• 
  VIDEO: University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center names new director

  Michael J. Birrer, MD, PhD, discusses his new role as director of University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center at the ASCO Annual Meeting.
• 
  Things to do in Birmingham, June 11-17

  Show your state pride at LOCAL. Saturday's festival -- held outside the Alys Stephens Center -- will showcase Alabama artists, farmers, musicians and makers, starting at 5 p.m.